Pirates kidnap four senior Immigration officers in Rivers State

Four senior officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) were on Monday morning abducted along Bonny waterways while on their way to Port Harcourt.

An indigene of Bonny told theportcitynews through the phone that the officer left Bonny for Port Harcourt, the state capital for documentation and other official matters at NIS’ State head office when the pirates assaulted them on the ocean and whisked them away.

The source uncovered that the boat’s driver was permitted to go after the pirates took hold of the officers and moved them into their higher-limit speedboat and promptly hurried off.

The Bonny local added that the criminals shot sporadically into the air to counteract being confronted by the security operators on the watch.

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When reached through the phone for his response, Rivers Police Spokesman, Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said he didn’t know about the occurrence.

The Spokesman of NIS in Rivers state, could not be reached for comments.

In October, stakeholders in the water transport sector under the auspices of the Maritime Workers Union, Bonny Unit criticized the Rivers State Government for not synergizing with them.

The union who spoke with our correspondent through its Treasurer, Mr Josiah Akums said all the gunboats donated by the state government to secure the state waterways are nowhere to be found.

He said there are nohow any government can bypass them and achieve success because the union has enormous intelligence and strategies that can help secure the waterways, adding that the union is always ready to work with the government to safeguard the waterways.

Mr Akums said: “We have had a series of pirate attacks along Bonny waterways. Before this recent incident, we were attacked by pirates. They collected our boats and robbed passengers and up till now, we have not recovered our stolen boats.

“We will always appeal to the state government because the gunboats we learnt that the governor donated for Operation Sting to use are nowhere to be found. It is only one gunboat we see marine police usually station at a particular place and it can not provide the needed security on the waterways.

“We have always said that if the government wants to secure the waterways, they should call the maritime unions and we will tell them how to secure the water routes.

“We know that if the presence of security agents were well felt on the sea, we will not be having pirate attacks. Well, we still leave the security of our waterways in the hands of God because security agents have failed us.”